Month: January 2017

This is a work of fiction. All characters and incidents are fictional.

Chapter five of the novel The Great Goddess

Please read from chapter one.

Both King Valeth and queen Avinya were waiting in the king’s chamber for Sandhya’s arrival.

Sandhya came at four hours past sunset. She carried something in her closed fist.

“What is it?…. Goddess” asked Valeth. He was not sure about the way he should address her.

Sandhya understood his confusion. She dropped the contents of her hand on to a table nearby. “Just call me Sandhya, that will be fine.”

There were seven rings, made out of seven metals, one for each class. Platinum for royal, gold for noble, silver for military, copper for scribe, aluminium for merchant, tin for peasant, iron for labour.

“Each one represents a class.” Sandhya explained. “These rings must be worn for a period of one lunar month by the seven chosen virgins. Then all of them should be melted together and made into a new medal which Avinya must place at its rightful place in the hall of rules. Valeth should also go with Avinya, it is your duty to assist and protect your wife.”

“Where is this hall of rules situated?” asked Avinya.

“To the north of the northern mountains, before that you should find the lady of the key. She resides in a place west of the Tanoshiya forest, once you reach there you can cross the northern mountains through the Bahl pass.” replied Sandhya.

“If we both leave, who will look after the kingdom?” asked Valeth.

“Your brother will take over before that. He and Srila is destined to be the last king and queen of Nihariya.” answered Sandhya.

“How could that be? My brother will not do anything that brings harm to me.” asked Valeth.

“Srila will convince him to do so.” replied Sandhya.

“Even if she convince him, won’t it be against the code?” asked Avinya.

“No, the code has nothing to do with succession. There is a lot of misunderstanding regarding the code, especially the code of ruby.

There were only two reasons for the royals to come up with the codes. One, to keep the system stable.

By keeping the system stable, there won’t be any trouble to their rule. Stability is achieved by fixing each class in its place in the class hierarchy.

By fixing the peasants in place, there will be a continuous supply of food.

By fixing the labours, the merchants will have a steady supply of human resource.

By fixing the merchants you have a continuous supply of resources. These three ensures a sound economy.

The fixing of military gives a continuous supply of soldiers, providing a perfect defence system.

Fixing the nobles provides an excellent administrative system.

Fixing the scribes gives a continuous supply of technicians for the administrators. Further to keep the government fixed all administrative and executive posts held by the nobles were made hereditary. The royals maintained close connections with those families.

To prevent the military and scribe consolidating power within families, those posts were made to be skill based, thus non hereditary.

But people can move away from the duties of their class in two ways, either by leaving the kingdom, which is prevented by the code of emerald or by moving to a different class, which is prevented by the code of sapphire.

Apart from that, the code of sapphire has a second purpose, to keep the royal class pure by not letting anyone from the lower classes marring into the royal class.

The other problem the royals had was safety. The royals are just five families, all the other classes had a larger number of people. Right from the beginning, the royals knew the other classes could take over power, the labour class, which had the largest population can take over by a popular revolution, the merchants can influence the government with money, the military can take over by the use of weapons. To prevent all these as well as to prevent clashes among the other classes which could lead to anarchy and instability, the royals came up with the code of ruby.

As you can see, these codes are made by the royals, for the royals, not for the people. So in the end of each code they added the clause “except royals”, which made the royals immune to the codes.

To further consolidate power, the royals included two more codes, which are not discussed much.

The code of pearl, which states that only the royals can practise magic. And the code of amber, which states that only the royals can mint coins.

Just having a few rules will not prevent people from doing what they want. So in a final move they locked the codes with the help of a higher power, the lord of war and the lady of wheat.

But today, just like the cosmic rules, the code too have changed. Mainly the code of ruby, many things unrelated to the code are associated with it.

One such law is the sub class hierarchy. Which makes the following hierarchy within the royal class. King first, then queen, their children, king’s parents, king’s siblings from elder to younger. Such structuring exists in all the classes but has got nothing to do with the code of ruby, it comes from a joint order made by the kings. The code of ruby treats all members of a class equally.

Similarly the law of royal and noble succession has nothing to do with the codes. All these laws could be changed by a joint order by the kings or by having a majority support of the assembly.” explained Sandhya.

“Assembly?” asked Valeth.

Sandhya continued her explanation. “Yes, as you know, the assembly is formed by members of the noble, military and scribe class, who hold government positions. Any member of the royal family can change laws made by the kings if they have secured the favour of the majority of the assembly. The code only prevents lower class members from taking power. Lower class members are free to support anyone in the upper class. They are also free to question anyone in the upper class. This law was made by the first kings of Nihariya, but no one has ever used it. Srila will be the first and last to use it. She will use it to change the law of succession.”

“What will happen to the kingdom after Srila’s rule?” Avinya asked with fear.

“Don’t worry nothing bad will happen. Nihariya will become a republic. Other kingdoms will follow in that path. With it the fourth age will properly take shape.” Sandhya clarified .

“How can that happen? Isn’t taking over power by the lower classes a direct violation of the code?” asked Avinya.

“Yes, but when you place the medal, the lords and ladies of nature will stop intervening in the politics of humans. So, even if it is a violation, there is no one to stop them.” said Sandhya.

“You didn’t tell anything about the seven virgins, who are they?” asked Avinya.

Sandhya listed down the seven virgins.

“Princess Vihani, daughter of king Urok from the city of Marahim, represents royal.

This is a work of fiction. All characters and incidents are fictional.

Chapter four of the novel The Great Goddess

Please read from chapter one.

As Sandhya came near the two farmers, they got scared and ran towards the village centre.

Sandhya smiled and again turned into a swan and flew in the direction of the royal palace.

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Srila went to Avinya’s room. Avinya spoke with Srila as usual, she asked Srila what she thinks about she being the queen. From Srila’s answer to this question Avinya understood Srila’s desire for becoming queen. After sometime Srila left the queen’s room.

After that she made the trip to the administrator’s office.

﻿When Srila arrived at the city administrator’s office, his secretary took her to the administrator’s residential quarters. They walked through a long corridor. He knocked on the very last door.

“Who?” Srila and the secretary heard the administrator’s voice.

“Me Sir, The princess has arrived.” the secretary replied.

The door swung open and the administrator welcomed her in.

“Welcome! Your Highness!” Apart from the administrator there were ten people in that room. As Srila walked in, the administrator closed and locked the door. All ten were seated around an oval table, five on each side. The two seats on the two small sides were vacant.

Srila walked towards them, when she reached the table, all of them stood up. The administrator asked her to take one of the vacant seats, and he took the other directly opposite hers.

All sat again after the princess. Srila recognized all of them. The four close to her on the left side were provincial governors and the fifth is the administrator of her birth city, which is also a capital city.

Kingdom of Nihariya has five capital cities, one for each royal house, the city of Nihariya is one of them. Each king has authority over the day to day administration of two or three near by provinces. All five kings acted as a single person when dealing with matters of national importance, but they dealt local and provincial matters separately.

On her right side the two seats close to her were occupied by two national ministers, while the other three were occupied by three provincial ministers.

“Why are you all willing to help me. I know you wouldn’t help me without any gain.” She asked them openly.

The city administrator spoke on behalf of the group. “The new king and queen cares a lot about the two lower classes. They have brought new laws in favour of the lower classes. Now we should pay them more, as well as provide them with many facilities. We should help educate their children. These laws affect our activities. When you come to power, you should give priority to us, the upper classes.”

“How would you bring my husband to power.” asked Srila.

“The codes doesn’t speak anything about succession. The laws of succession could be changed if someone from the royal class brought out the problem. If you challenge your sister’s rule, we would support you, many members of the military, scribe and merchant class are also willing to support you.” replied the administrator.

The discussion continued, they surrounded Srila like bees around a flower. All of them wanted a large share of nectar. But there’s one thing they don’t know, all flowers aren’t roses, some flowers stay open to consume the bees. Srila is one such flower.

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A few minutes after Srila left the room. Avinya heard the sound of flapping wings in her balcony. It was a swan, a beautiful swan, no, it was more than beautiful, it was perfect. Avinya thought it should be the dragon. After all it has told her that it will return to her in its true form. Maybe this is its true form. She quickly walked towards the balcony, when she reached halfway, Sandhya turned into her true form. This time she was in a golden yellow saree with metallic gold border. Avinya stopped walking, her emotions were beyond explanation. Both Avinya and Sandhya looked alike, same face, same height, same everything. Avinya looked at her costume. It was of the same material and colour as Sandhya’s, except that she was wearing a lehenga instead of the saree.

“Who is she?”

Avinya turned back, the king was standing behind her. He was shocked, confused and some what afraid.

Avinya didn’t expect him at this very crucial moment of her life. She had just seen the true form of someone who had been with her from birth. Someone who had consoled her during hard time, someone who had guided her through all her problems. Avinya never made any decision without consulting Sandhya. Today she is here as queen because Sandhya told her to accept the marriage proposal brought by the prince. Sandhya gave her permission for Avinya’s marriage by turning blue in her dragon form, blue is the colour of positivity in Nihariyan culture.

Avinya’s experience with Sandhya is not complete yet. Her fingers wanted to touch Sandhya. Her arms wanted to hug Sandhya. Her legs pulled her towards Sandhya. But, she knew that before doing all that she must answer the king.

“She, She is…. ” She tried to answer but she couldn’t.

“I am Sandhya.” Sandhya answered from behind. Avinya turned around. The king changed his focus from Avinya to Sandhya.

Sandhya continued “It’s time to reveal everything.” She explained everything to the king.

“From now on both of you should work together. Avinya is the one who is going to ensure the proper beginning of the fourth age.”

“But how can I? I am just a queen.” Avinya asked puzzled.

“Avinya, you are not just a queen, you are me and I am you. Avinya is Sandhya in human form and Sandhya is Avinya in cosmic form.”

Avinya still couldn’t believe it. She told herself “How can it be? but if Sandhya is telling so, it has to be true.”

Sandhya continued her explanation. “When all the lords and ladies of nature appeared from me at the beginning of the first age, they had no duty to perform.

Then from my mind appeared two ladies, the lady of the rules and the lady of the key. The lady of the rules appeared with three objects, two parchments and a medal. She had to build the hall of cosmic rules and on its walls she should inscribe the duties of each lord and lady of nature. Once completed she must keep the medal in the platform allocated to it in the centre of the hall, so that the rules get locked in place.

The measurements and structure of the hall was in the first parchment, while the rules were in the second.

Once completed the lady of the key should lock the hall’s doors with the key that was already in her hand.

Everything happened as expected, except one thing, the lady of the rules desired to be the cosmic empress, she let the lady of the key to close and lock the hall without the medal in place. Without the medal, the rules will slowly change with time, once the rules get chaotic, she could influence the natural order of things and be the cosmic empress.

She threw the medal into the volcano behind the cave. By melting and destroying the medal, the lord of the volcano helped the lady of the rules in achieving her evil desire. As a result of it he became evil, finally I had to break his spine to purify him.”

“Where do I fit in this picture?” asked Avinya.

“You are the one, who must restore the medal.” Sandhya answered looking at Avinya.

“How?” asked Avinya.

“I’ll explain later tonight, after dinner wait for me at the king’s chamber.” Sandhya replied and took the swan form again and flew out of the room.